So, do you REALLY think Lieberman is going to drop out?

[romantico]

I think it sounds too good to be true. What say you?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-odonnell/joe-lieberman-will-drop-o_b_27006.html

[NYCGirl]

1. Yes. He'll realize it's not as easy as he thought, and he's not as popular

as he thought.

[John Q. Citizen]

2. Can his ego sustain another loss? n/t

[valerief]

3. Turn on, tune in, drop out. He'll stage a Love-In. Create a

People's Park. Invent a new high.

Sorry. Had a flashback there.

[tives12]

4. I think so

Especially as all of his fellow Congressmen/women turn against him and he has no support from his former party.

[mitchtv]

27. h there's a couple that support him

Salazar and Pryor, they need a challenger when they come up.

[citizen snips]

5. No

he is too self centered to drop out.

[Zensea]

6. I don't know, but I'd place bets on it anyway

I'm thinking there is a lot of behind the scenes (and not so behind the scenes)pressure being applied and that he'll most likely cave eventually.

[napi21]

7. YES! I've been saying this all along, but I said it would be mid Oct.

I don't know about the timeing, and O'Donnel knows this business much better than I do, but I think Joe is going to recognize that hes not able to raise the money needed, and when he reaches the "loosing b double digits" in the polls, you'll see him smile, and say "I'll be back someday."

[Bucky]

32. Mid October is just 2-3 weeks out from election day. I doubt he'd do that.

If he drops, it'd have to be by (spitballing here) October 1st or so. I think Lieberman will plash about in the pond a few more weeks to see how much traction he can get with all his Senate friends (well, most of them) backing Lamont. Frankly, I don't think out of state endorsements do much for an incumbent--good or ill. If after 20 years people in Connecticut don't know Joe, he's got worse troubles than just the stain of enabling a bloody, endess quagmire of an oilgrab.

I'd like O'Donnell to be right. But honestly, this race doesn't concern me any more. Lieberman ain't the bete noire that too many DUers make of him. He's a pleasant quixotic yes-man whose reach exceeded his grasp in national affairs. I doubt he'll win, but I won't cry if he does.

[napi21]

34. Joe is attracting national attention for two reasons.

First, he WAS the VP candidate in 2000, and second, he is a 3 term SEnator and one of four who have ever lost a Primary to a newby in many, many years! He's ALSO the ONLY candidate that I know of who has chosen to disregard the results of a primary!

This election really does have national implications, just because of the perception of him as a Democrat! Or at leasst a used to be one.

[Bucky]

36. I think the relevant model is Jacob Javitz (R-NY) in 1980.

Javitz loss his primary bid, ignored the will of the party voters, and ran as an independent to keep his seat. He lost. He was out of step with his party, which was on an anti-incumbancy upsurge in the wake of a president who was dealing with numerous embarassing losses overseas. Javitz lost big.

[LSparkle]

8. Nope

I'm really afraid that KKKarl is using Joementum to force out the flawed Thug who's running. All the Thug votes will go to Loserman ... I can only hope that there really WERE 30K new Democrats registered in Conn. and that they will all vote for Ned.

[AndyA]

9. I don't know. It would sure seem a better ending if he'd accepted the

vote of the people at face value, then rallied behind Lamont to win the election in November. That is the true test of a man's integrity, and Lieberman doesn't appear to have much of that at this point. I think people will be left with an impression of Lieberman as a bitter old man who was a spoil sport and wouldn't accept the vote of the people.

If he really wanted what was best for America and Connecticut, he would look at the big picture, and realize we're fighting something much more sinister than a lost election, and that the Dems need to be a strong and unified team right now to stop the GOP beast in its tracks.

[QuestionAll...]

10. him being a Willnot out of Bush's ass, hard to say... nt

[Sewsojm]

16. Nope

I think he's already become the new poster boy for the Repugs, they'll milk this for all they can get out of it and then they'll toss Joe to the curb where he belongs. I hope Joe gets everything he deserve's, actually the curb is too good for the likes of him!

[Lerkfish]

11. He'd be SMART to drop out. As to whether that means he will...

:shrug:

[Nite Owl]

12. I think it is likely

where is his money going to come from? He had to spend 2:1 against Lamont just in the primary and even the corporations aren't going to just give him money if he isn't pegged as a winner. Where will his ground support be now too? He isn't a dem anymore no matter what he calls himself, he severed those ties when he filed on Wednesday.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

13. Yup.

When he finally has to face the fact that he cannot raise the money needed.

Or, after the ELEC quarterlies are filed and it shows that his only contributors are corporations associated with lobbiests and repukes.

[LSparkle]

18. The White Haus will "do whatever it can" to help him ...

if I were the Rethug in the race (Allen Schlesinger or something like that?), I'd be REALLY worried. Why is Roverat saying "The boss wants to help" when he's supposedly already GOT a horse in this race????

[rniel]

14. Hell go start his own congress

And elect himself if he has to. Nothing will stop the Joementum.

[LSK]

15. Yes

[Vinca]

17. I didn't think he'd actually run. but

I guess I wouldn't want to give up a cushy job with cushy perks either. Joe's concerned about Joe.

[Mist]

19. Yes. Though it's true he has DC Rethug. support, I don't see that

creating Connecticut Rethug support.

[Bucky]

37. They're trying to recruit a nondeadbeat to replace the current loser-to-be

Both Lieberman and the Republicans are strategizing how to win this seat with less than 50% of the vote, each banking on their two opponents to split some larger base of votes. Essentially, they're gaming the system. Lamont seems to be going for a full bore 50%+1 majority victory. I think that's a pretty good sign.

[Lost-in-FL]

20. No he won't

As long as there are Dem Senators willing to support him he will continue his campaign. He will just think it is the "bloggers" fault that he lost.

[SaneInSC]

26. Hopefully

if he EVER was a true democrat and not just another liar, then he will see that his time is past. He certainly sounds like a current repub now though, comparing Lamont /voters to giving aid to the terrorists. Unbelievable..just like the rest of the last 6 years....

Every generation(or 2) faces their own challenges..but sheesh. We have to start channeling the founding fathers here Immediately. Courage.

[newyawker99]

31. Hi SaneinSC!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[SaneInSC]

39. Thanks newyawker99!

Still learning my way around the forum tools here at DU and just saw your reply. This is a great forum and I appreciate your welcome))

[skipos]

21. No. If he loses he will barricade himself in his office. nt

[insane_cratic_gal]

22. I thought that too at first, but Now I say No

How can ego sustain such a beating? he's finished .. he's done.

But I look at the backing he's getting from the republican side of the isle, I think Joe is all about Joe. He's lost his way, like most career politicians do. The ego becomes to large for the seat and they feel no loyalty to party except when election time rolls around. In this case, we see the stark truth of Lieberman dropping the party because the party dropped him

Joe's not in his "Last death throes" this administration will continue to use him and abuse him until he's defeated in 2006.

They have to use him, they have to highlight that the "fringe" party chose Lamont when main stream America (who only watch fox) is all about the reasonable temperament of Lieberman.

They've been using him since 2000. The will continue to ride his dog and pony act to the finish line.

If Lieberman had been about the democratic party, he would of resigned his seat in 2000 when he ran for VP.

Joe only cares about Joe, so he will continue to humiliate himself until the bitter end.

I see a suicide note in the man's future because egos like his can't handle reality.

[elfin]

23. No

Both God and George "speak" to him - plus outsized ego and PAC funds as well as Bushco money down the stretch.

Really sad - until he went "holy" during Clinton's troubles and seemed to be validated for this by Gore as VP pick, He has been blinded by the whole "faith' hook and bait offered by dumbya as well as his strong affections for Israel's interests. On many other issues over the years, he has been really good - but lost his way when he fell in love with George and a fantasy illusion of historical Senatorial "bipartisanship" no longer valid in today's climate fostered by BushCo.

He now resides in "JoeLand" and will be nothing but trouble for Dems for the foreseeable future.

[paparush]

24. No. He'll continue to Slander Lamont and Dems in general whilst

helping the Repugs pull the center even further to the right.

[fishwax]

25. I think it's very likely

I just don't think he can sustain an independent campaign for three months.

[Wwagsthedog]

28. Joe Low will not quit.

His overburnished image of himself thinks it will blind CT voters.

[Larkspur]

29. It depends on who funds his campaign and how much he raises

Lieberman won't have the support of the Democratic Party's infrastructure. That has already shifted to Ned Lamont.

Lieberman will have a handful of 2nd tier senators and US Reps supporting him and some low rate local Dems supporting him, but who will do the grunt work of the campaign? Lieberman didn't have much of a ground game for the Primary and he has already lost the CT AFL-CIO endorsement. That expired at 8:00 pm August 8, 2006. He may get some individual union help, but SEIU and AFT, both members of CT's AFL-CIO, have already endorsed Ned Lamont and I would bet that these groups and others will do everything they can to bar Lieberman from getting the full CT AFL-CIO endorsement.

Lieberman's only choice, if he really wants to mount an aggressive campaign, is to make a Faustian deal with the Republicans and if he does that he is doing what Lamont and Lamont's supporters say Lieberman is -- a lapdog for the Republicans.

[David__77]

30. Hopefully. I don't think he wants the company of ol' Zell.

He wasn't "purged," he was defeated by a fellow Democrat. It happens. But to do what he says he will do--for that, he deserves to be "purged," if he follows through.

[Bucky]

33. The rationale for purging Lieberman is based on the Golden Rule

Inasmuch as he makes so many of us DUers purge on sight. That said, purging is for Stalinists and McCarthyites. I don't care for that company. Primary elections are the only purges we need. If Lieberman can really pull a plurality in CT and still wants to caucus with us, he's the best damned political magician since Martin Van Buren and we ought to let him back in.

But of course he won't win.

[charlie]

35. I dunno

Remember Ross Perot running the first time with no party apparatus, no ground structure. He dropped out for a couple of months, came back with stories of black helicopters at his daughter's wedding, and still managed to get 19% of the vote. So the irresistable question is, what if he hadn't bailed? Joe may be able to continue as long as he serves Republican and MSM interests by nationalizing the CT election -- serious statesmen vs Democratic partisans and crazed leftists.

[americanstranger]

38. But Perot spent a boatload of his own dough.

Will Joe do that? And if not, where's the money going to come from?

Besdies, he's been trash-mouthing Democrats since before Lamont beat him. That's part of the reason he lost.

He's lsing friends throughout Connecticut - and the more he talks at this point, the less people like him.

He'll pull out by Labor Day, says I.

- as